Luckily, we’re only a few blocks from Whole Foods, so we’ve been able to eat fresh fruits and veggies, but we’ve been lacking in the protein department. Although we eat fish and chicken when we’re out and about, I’m always weary of the source, since I know that most animal proteins are pumped full of hormones and antibiotics.  And we haven’t found an organic restaurant close by…as of yet, so I was pleasantly surprised when I came across a new organic whey protein product called “Tera’s Organic Whey” at Whole Foods.

As you know, whey protein products are dime a dozen, but getting organic whey protein is very difficult.  In the past I’ve had to order all of the organic whey products online, since no major markets carried them, so I was quite pleased to see that Whole Foods was carrying this new organic whey protein line.  I didn’t know much about the product but I bought it to see what it tasted like and find out more about the product. I went to their site and I was quite impressed with what I found.  Here’s what the company site says:

Our Naturally Healthy Products:
I created tera’s whey to be the most naturally healthy product possible.

Every serving has:
20g of protein 

5 g of carbs

low glycemic index stevia

We start with raw whey from artisan cheesemakers and family farmers, carefully concentrate it in our own green plant, sweeten it with low-glycemic stevia and add the highest quality, most flavorful natural ingredients; things like Fair Trade Dark Chocolate and Bourbon Vanilla.  All of our fruits are real fruit extracts not flavor derivatives. When we say “natural ingredients” on our label, it means things like real vanilla.  No fillers. No additives. Just completely natural, healthy whey protein.

Traceability

One of the most unique things about teraswhey is where the whey comes from. The norm in the whey protein business is to buy whey from a blender who sources it from huge plants wherever it is cheapest at the time. One month it may be from a big plant in the US, another from New Zealand, and in another month it could come from Europe. We make tera’s whey from raw whey from small local cheese plants in Wisconsin that get their milk from small family farms. Some of our owners are farmers, some of our cheese plants are small cooperatives owned by farmers. This means we always know where our raw whey is coming from and so do you.

How We Manufacture

We built the only plant in the US that batch processes, which is what makes it possible for us to be the ONLY plant in the country that makes organic cow, r-bgh free cow, and goat whey proteins for use in nutritional supplements. In fact, as far as I know, we’re the only plant in the world that does what we do. We take in different types of whey, keep them segregated, use a cool temperature ultra filtration process to separate the whey protein from the other components in raw whey, then concentrate and dry the protein.

Certifications

Doing it ourselves means we have complete control over our production process. We don’t just say we use a cool process to preserve the quality of the protein, we actually do it, each and every day. While other supplement companies are resisting new industry regulations that will require them to be FDA inspected, we are routinely inspected by the FDA, USDA, DATCP, MOSA (our Organic Certifier), and Rabbinical certifiers. We are a certified supplier to an infant formula company, a private certification process that requires the most rigorous quality control standards of any certifier by far.  

All of this means that you can feel completely confident that the protein in Tera's whey has not been denatured and is always the highest quality possible.

After learning more about the company I was excited to taste it. Unfortunately, I know first hand that many healthy foods lack in the taste department, so I wasn’t expecting much…but, once again I was pleasantly surprised to find that it tasted quite good!  There’s was no chalkiness and the powder was just sweet enough that you can mix it with just water. I personally like a creamier texture, so I mixed it with almond milk and it tasted great. All in all, a great find and I think I’ve found myself a new organic whey protein!

In addition, to finding a great organic whey protein product, I also stumbled upon a new portable shaker called blender bottles.  I usually stay away from portable protein shakers, since they all do such a poor job of mixing - but with my blender packed away on a truck, being transported across the country with the rest of my belongings - I decided to give this nifty looking portable shaker a try. Well, to my surprise this shaker actually does what it says, it mixed the whey protein with the liquid without any clumps or residues.  It was super easy to mix and you don’t even need to shake it that hard…hands down the best portable shaker around.  A great piece of product, especially when you’re on the go and don’t have access to a blender.

Here’s a super easy post workout snack that I’ve been having using the organic whey protein and the bottle shaker:

I mix 2 scoops of Tera’s vanilla organic protein powder with ice cold water. This equated to about 20 grams of protein and 5 grams of carbs. Along with the shake I have a medium size banana and a cup of blueberries which equates to about 40 grams of carbs for a well balanced post workout snack. This comes out to be a 1:2 protein to carb ratio, post workout snack. If you want a higher carb ratio such a 1:3 to 1:4, you can simply add more fruit to get the desired protein to carb ratio.

Keep in mind that it’s important to consume enough protein on a daily basis, especially if you’re trying to lose weight and maintain lean muscle mass. If you’re having a hard time consuming protein from foods, you can always use protein supplementations to meet your daily protein requirements as long as they’re quality protein products like Tera’s organic whey protein.

I know it sounds like I’m pitching these products, but I have absolutely no relation to any of these products. I literally stumbled upon it a week ago, and have been quite happy with it, so I thought I’d pass it on. If you want more information you can check out each of their products at their websites: http://www.blenderbottle.com/.